One mad moment in February this old lady who has never run a race (other than a Park Run once which nearly killed me!) decided she should do a half marathon to raise much needed funds for Refuge. To put this run in context, I have never really run but have had one or two moments where I have tried coach to 5k and given up! I am a trauma and a cancer survivor. And as if I didn't need any more excuses not to do it, I then got whooping cough at the end of March which meant at times I couldn't even breath! Took me 3 months to shake that one off.

However I am determined to do this! I have been training for 8 weeks and am doing ok - no injuries yet but such a time commitment and often much much harder than I imagined!

So why on earth am I doing this madness you ask? One woman in four will experience domestic abuse at some point in her lifetime and two women are killed each week in England and Wales by a current or former partner. In 2010 my close friend Jo was that statistic, and my life changed forever. I am doing it in her memory, and in the memory of all the women killed by a partner or ex partner since.

Refuge supports thousands of women & children on any given day, experiencing domestic & sexual abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage, stalking, trafficking, prostitution & so-called ‘honour’ based violence. And as Chair of Refuge I know only too well the challenges we face financially - most of our services are paid for by local government - who themselves are financially squeezed. Our fundraising is incredible but in a cost of living crisis, as we all know, people have just less in their purse. And demand is ever increasing and ever more complex, with technology being used to bring harm to victims be that intimidation, stalking or isolation, and with growing misogyny in our schools, the end of domestic abuse feels ever further away.

Just £15 could go towards essentials for a woman's first night at a refuge - any support you give me will keep me going over these last 5 weeks and make a huge huge difference to our work.

Thank you for any support!!